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'neal barnard on the benefits of veganism(excerpt..)
Dr Neal Barnard grew up on a cattle ranch in North Dakota but after a traumatic experience at a hospital cafeteria he became a leading advocate for plant-based diets.
He's now a nutrition researcher and adjunct associate professor of medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington D.C.
Growing up he says - his childhood couldn’t have been less vegan.
'Every day was roast beef - baked potatoes and corn … [Read More...]

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To the grand art nouveau Café Louvre in Prague - once one of Franz Kafka’s favorite haunts in the Czech capital.
Cockburn is here to meet another – very different – Czech figure of historical importance: Karl Koecher - the only KGB agent known to have infiltrated the CIA.
He is relevant again because of a strange story claiming that Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton visited a New York sex club called Plato’s Retreat.
Koecher went there too when he was a … [Read More...]

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As profits earned by charity-owned businesses continue to skyrocket - critics say a centuries-old law that allows those companies to dodge income tax now needs to go.
As Checkpoint's Nita Blake-Persen reports you might be surprised how many products in your pantry are made by companies which don't have to pay tax.
Charity tax was an issue raised in the Tax Working Group's interim report and with the group's final report due tomorrow the government's … [Read More...]

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According to new research psychopathic birds of a feather flock together.
The study in the Journal of Personality was led by Dr Ashley Watts from the psychology department of Emory University in Atlanta.
She says the findings revealed that despite the predatory tendencies of psychopaths - they tended to prefer their own types.
'This idea that psychopathic individuals pursue in essentially a predatory way - especially women that are that are maybe naïve or a little … [Read More...]

(ed:..short-answer: yes..)
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It's hard to believe that as recently as two years ago there was serious talk of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg running for president.
Regardless of whether one supports his idea for a universal basic income - a strong argument can be made that a President Zuckerberg would have been the single most powerful human being to ever live.
He would have controlled the world's mightiest superpower and a social media platform that provides him with … [Read More...]

(ed:..this is a magnificent thing our prime minister is doing..no other way to view it..)
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Internet giants like Google and Facebook are in Government sights with Cabinet understood to have agreed to investigate a new tax on multinational companies targeting digital revenues.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the move was about 'fairness and balance in the tax system'.
Ardern announced that New Zealand will consult on the design of changes to tax rules which current allow … [Read More...]

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Fifty years ago the Beatles entered their final year as a working rock ’n’ roll band.
And in the ensuing decades the reasons for their eventual disbandment have been debated ad nauseam.
Was it Yoko Ono’s constant presence in the studio?
Paul McCartney’s increasingly controlling nature?
John Lennon’s rage to break free of the partnership that he had brokered with McCartney after their meeting in a Liverpool churchyard in July 1957?
Or simply Ringo Starr’s apathy or … [Read More...]

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China's real-estate bubble is the largest in human history and despite years of warning signs it has grown and grown - spilling over into the rest of the world.
It's hard to overstate just how crazy China's real-estate market is: 25% of the country's GDP comes from construction and 80% of the nation's wealth is in domestic property holdings.
That's $65T - nearly double the size of the economies of every G7 nation combined.
The market has been kept afloat through China's … [Read More...]

(excerpt..)
For lunch Thomas served us dry jackfruit (chewy - tastes like honey) dehydrated jackfruit pieces (tasteless) fresh jackfruit (mutedly sweet) and boiled jackfruit mashed with turmeric and grated coconut (dense and savoury).
He grinned widely as we ate.
At 74 years old - with his glistening white teeth - shiny hair and smooth skin - he looked 15 years younger.
I contemplated a second helping of the yellow mash.
Food researchers are trumpeting the potential for jackfruit … [Read More...]

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Amazon has had a bad week but there is some comfort for the tech titan – it will not pay a single cent in income tax on the $11.2bn of profits it made last year.
The online shopping and tech giant scrapped plans to build a second headquarters in New York this week after a backlash over a proposed $3bn in taxpayer subsidies.
Local politicians questioned why a company that made $1bn a month in the last three months of 2018 alone should be lured to New York with taxpayers’ … [Read More...]

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As we drive around town he talks about meeting a child who started using cocaine at age eight - a girl whose baby was born with cocaine addiction and a woman who told him she would kill for her next shot of heroin.
'If people are willing to do that the question for me is 'Why'? Howard says.
'I have learnt a lot from drug addicts - from their history and experiences.
Locking them up is not going to solve the problem it is not going to get them off drugs.
The problem we have in … [Read More...]

(ed: this is from 2017 - but best we not forget how peter thiel has so screwed over new zealand - with the happy connivance of that useless tory government we just threw out -
and who now stand perpetually whining on the sideline..
and this sorry (for nz'ers) tale - this gives a particularly hollow ring to john keys' claims to be a 'deal-maker' -
how could it not...?..
and yes..of course stephen joyce was a player..no surprises there..eh..?..)
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A scheme funded by New … [Read More...]

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Founded with a grant from the from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Apeel Sciences is a California-based startup that's developed a thin 'second skin' for fruits and vegetables to preserve them for longer periods.
Avocados coated with Apeel will soon hit shelves in Europe.
From Technology Review:
The thin coating is made from the pulp - peels and seeds of other fruit and vegetables.
These are turned into powder - which gets mixed with water and then applied to … [Read More...]

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Baxter’s letter referencing the rape of Jacquie Sturm in 1960 reads: 'Sex relations with wife resumed.
This at least gives some common ground to stand on to clear up difficulties.
Achieved by rape'.
'From a very clear knowledge no other way could break down J’s reservations & that she was gradually shoving herself round the bend.
She seems ten times happier in herself.
But it looks as if each new act will have to repeat the rape pattern'.
Professor Paul … [Read More...]

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After the synchronized global economic expansion of 2017 came the asynchronous growth of 2018 - when most countries other than the United States started to experience slowdowns.
Worries about US inflation - the US Federal Reserve’s policy trajectory - ongoing trade wars - Italian budget and debt woes - China’s slowdown and emerging-market fragilities led to a sharp fall in global equity markets toward the end of the year.
The good news at the start of 2019 is that the risk of an … [Read More...]

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Angie Schmitt's list of 'all the bad things' about Uber and Lyft only touches on transportation - leaving aside the companies' labor - taxation - regulatory and other issues - but it's still quite a damning document.
From increasing the number of cars on the road and the number of miles driven - to displacing and hurting public transit - to displacing walking and cycling - to increasing traffic fatalities and hoarding data - there's a good case to be made that rideshares will … [Read More...]

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The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction - threatening a 'catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems' - according to the first global scientific review.
More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered - the analysis found.
The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals - birds and reptiles.
The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year - according to the best data available - suggesting … [Read More...]

(update: : hate-crime monger facebook has deemed this article from the british guardian to have 'breached their standards'..and have blocked it...dunno what's funnier - their banning - or their claim they have 'standards'...i didn't realise hate-crime mongers had frckin' 'standards'..)
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Towards the end of last year I published an essay about my vulva – in a book and then in the Guardian.
At 25 I’d spent years considering labiaplasty and having sex with the lights off - … [Read More...]

(ed: i would just like to note that i have had vegan dogs for 20 yrs..one died a couple of years ago at 18...another last yr at 14...i currently have two ex-pig dogs..who are happy/healthy-as on a vegan diet...
so to me this is not such a radical idea/concept..'tho i am pleased to see it getting aired before such a large audience..many of whom will be harrumphing into their morning feed of pig-flesh..at the very idea/thought..heh..!..)
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Vegan veterinarian Dr Sarah Dodd's been … [Read More...]

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The government has announced it will ban smoking in cars carrying children under 18 years of age.
Vaping will also be included in the ban and will apply to moving and parked vehicles.
Under the new rules police will be able to use their discretion to give warnings - refer people to anti-smoking support services or issue an infringement fee of $50.
Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa said too many children, especially M?ori and Pasifika were exposed to second-hand smoke … [Read More...]

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There are plugins and obscure settings that will get this behavior but as the saying goes 'defaults matter':
Firefox 66 will not play any audio or video until 'a web page has had user interaction to initiate the audio'.
(cont..)
Source: The next Firefox will block all autoplayed audio, video / Boing Boing … [Read More...]

(ed: much better than the original..)
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Colbert's honest translations of Orange Julius' endless stream of misdirection and outright lies are easier to watch than the original speech.
(cont..)
Source: Colbert restates the State of the Union / Boing Boing … [Read More...]

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Last year I got invited to a super-deluxe private resort to deliver a keynote speech to what I assumed would be a hundred or so investment bankers.
It was by far the largest fee I had ever been offered for a talk – about half my annual professor’s salary – all to deliver some insight on the subject of 'the future of technology'.
I’ve never liked talking about the future.
After I arrived I was ushered into what I thought was the green room.
But instead of being wired … [Read More...]

(ed: so basically - sperm like getting stoned...who knew..?..)
(excerpt..)
Smoking cannabis occasionally may improve men's fertility by stimulating sperm production - a study by Harvard University suggests.
Analysis of more than 662 men found that those who had never taken the drug were more than twice as likely to have sperm concentrations below a 'normal' threshold.
Published in the journal Human Reproduction the results have taken the scientific community by surprise - because previous … [Read More...]

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Over at Riff Magazine my old pal David Gill looks back at the birth of distortion and its position as 'central to rock and roll as the sex and the drugs'. From Riff:
In March 1951 a 19-year-old Ike Turner was recording his saxophonist Jackie Breston’s song “Rocket 88” an ode to the Oldsmobile 88 (and later inspiration for Public Enemy’s 'You’re Gonna Get Yours”'.
Turner played his guitar loud - so loud in fact that his amplifier couldn’t handle it.
The resulting … [Read More...]

(ed:..ok..the starting gun has been fired - time new zealand joined the queue - and of course after we have shaken apple by the heels - we then line up facebook/google etc - the great clawback begins..excellent..!...)
(excerpt..)
Apple has agreed to pay 10 years of back taxes to France - marking the latest victory for European governments pushing tech multinationals to pay their fair share in local markets.
The iPhone and iPad maker reportedly shelled out close to €500m (£440m) after … [Read More...]

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Your internet-of-shit smart lightbulb is probably storing your wifi password in the clear - ready to be recovered by wily dumpster-divers.
Limited Results discovered the security worst-practice during a teardown of a Lifx bulb and that's just for starters - the bulbs also store their RSA private key and root passwords in the clear and have no security measures to prevent malicious reflashings of their ROMs with exploits - network probes and other nasties.
(cont..)
Source: … [Read More...]

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Recycling or taking the bus rather than driving to work has its place but scientists are increasingly pointing to a deeper lifestyle change that would be the single biggest way to help the planet: eating far less meat.
A swathe of research released over the past year has laid bare the hefty impact that eating meat - especially beef and pork - has upon the environment by fueling climate change and polluting landscapes and waterways.
Industrialized agriculture and the onset of … [Read More...]

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'It may not be pretty or tidy and it certainly hasn't been cleaned and the floor hasn't been swept for five years at least..'.
In this 1982 interview Roald Dahl author of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - takes us inside his backyard writing hut in Great Missenden - Buckinghamshire - England.
The hut is now part of the Roald Dahl Museum.
Dahl modeled his hut on Dylan Thomas's own writing shed in Carmarthenshire Wales. From BBC … [Read More...]